Last week, between tooth polish and fluoride rinse, my dentist asked how my job was these days.

“Oh gosh. I love it there.” (Cards on the table — this sentence was way less discernible in person.)

“Really?! Wow, I never hear anyone your age say that.”

Uhm. That’s devastating.

But I get it. Fresh out of college, I floundered towards the working world with nothing but a freshly minted B.A. in a field I wasn’t even sure I loved anymore and a small portfolio of management and marketing experience from high school/college jobs. I was directionless, desperate, and willing to try nearly anything. QUE: a back-to-back series of some intensely life-sucking job experiences.

Then I landed my dream job.

Here’s what I wish I had known sooner.

Prioritize company culture. Not job description.

Turning a blind eye to the health of the company culture: 2/10. Would not recommend.

The most miserable job I ever held was one that, on paper, looked like a rainbows-and-unicorns synthesis of everything I ever wanted to do in life, but took place inside a dysfunctional organization. By comparison, I’m currently in an unexpected role at a company with an unparalleled team culture, and planning on sticking around for the long-haul.

If your primary criteria for job hunting starts with evaluating job titles and descriptions, you may miss opportunities with unconventional but healthy companies that could leverage your skills, offer you a growth path, and support a meaningful life balance. On the other side of the coin, a job opening that matches your ideal description flawlessly might have a culture so miserable that it overshadows what should’ve been a great job. Work for a great company and you’re far more likely to enjoy your role in it.

Here’s a hint: a company culture might be toxic if the job description is vague and all-encompassing (get ready to kiss your boundaries goodbye), the company has a lot of turnover, employees are expected to have wide-open schedule availability, or there’s no described growth path for the role you’re applying for. Take advantage of the “what questions do you have for me?” section of the interview to get insight into the kind of culture you’d be walking into.

Keep your eyes open. Be open to the unexpected.

I met my dream job employer at a networking event I attended while representing my previous employer. Although I wouldn’t necessarily encourage such brazen turncoat behavior, it indicates a good job-hunting practice: keep your ear to the ground. The industry I work in now was one I didn’t even know existed four years ago. If I hadn’t been open to possibilities from unlikely sources, I never would’ve landed the job.

How? Be perpetually “job hunting” — even if you’re not. Simply reading up on descriptions for jobs you’ll never apply for can hone your sense of what you dream role would look like. Something you read might spark ideas for what you want in a role when you start seriously job hunting.

Settle.

“But Sari,” says your inner go-getter, “we’ve been told to ‘make it happen,’ ‘go after what we want,’ ‘never accept less than what’s best for us’ etc.

Here’s the hard truth, gang. If you want to be appealing to your dream job, you need to be a dream employee. This might mean taking some jobs that are less-than-dreamy with your long term goal in mind. Maybe the idea of taking a role that requires in-person cold calls makes you want to vomit, but you really need to develop your soft skills. Maybe the salary of this job isn’t what you hoped for, but the title is going to look awesome on your resume forever. Maybe your boss is driving you crazy right now, but you don’t want your job history to show a new role every six months.

It’s okay to sacrifice some of your immediate ideals for the sake of your long-term goals. I pulled espresso shots and steamed soy milk for much longer than I wanted because I was determined to get management experience on my resume. Yeah, waking up for 4am shifts isn’t delightful and hunter-green-apron isn’t my *preferred* daily aesthetic, but the job taught me a ton about developing systems and leading a team.

But I get it. Much of the reason why “never settle!” is a value for Millennials is because we’ve seen — pardon while I paint in massive brush strokes— an entire generation before us get swallowed up by jobs that they hated but felt tied to for pragmatic reasons. Still, let’s keep our wits about us and not swing to the other extreme, hopping off to a different job the moment a role doesn’t live up to every one of our ideals.

The trick to navigate this: if you do find yourself in a less-than-ideal role, decide on what it is you want to get out of that job, and write it down. (Bonus points if you get accountability from a friend or family member around it.) Then, when you’ve hit that objective — whether it be a title bump or a specific amount of time spent in the organization — you can confidently move on to the next job.

But also, don’t settle.

Don’t rush into the next bad job just because you hate your current one.

I get it — it’s tempting to think that ANYTHING would be better than where you are now, but unless your current job is Horribly, Unbearably Toxic™, don’t settle for another less-than-ideal position just because you can’t stand the one you’re in right now. You’ll just kick your existing crisis down the field another year, and also do your resume integrity a huge disservice in the process. Play the long game.

On a similar note, do NOT leave a job without having another one to go into. This is just common sense.

Know Thyself.

I’ve heard it before: “figure out what they want you to say, and say it! Do whatever it takes to get the job!”

Here’s a hard-learned interviewing lesson from a chronic people-pleaser: resist the urge to conform to whatever the role wants you to be. Your primary goal should be to learn if this job is a good fit, not necessarily land the job at all costs. Know yourself well enough to have an idea of what kind of roles you thrive in, and hold onto that north star for dear life.

For example, if in the course of the interview you get the sense that the job is entirely self-directed but the thought of managing your own schedule day after day makes you want to scream, then for the love of everything holy do not tell them one of your skills is time management. Even if you know that’s what they want to hear, resist.

Think of it like dating. If being in this relationship is going to require you to give up all the best parts of yourself, it probably won’t last in the long run. Or worse — it WILL last but you’ll lose connection with everything you hold dear in the process. Not worth it. Obviously, give thoughtful and well-prepared answers in an interview, but make sure they’re in accord with your values and preferences. You’re interviewing them, too.

Aaaaaand don’t ignore your cover letter.

Months into my job, Meagan Slavin told me that I was hired the moment she read my cover letter.

The cover letter is the perfect place to articulate your understanding of the vision and “language” of the company. It’s also a wide-open opportunity to tell your story and cast your vision for why you and the role could be a match made in heaven. Even if the job you’re applying for doesn’t require a cover letter, consider writing one anyway. If nothing else, it’ll show the hiring team that you put some thought and effort into this.

But how? Stalk the “about” page of the website. Follow all of their social media accounts. Get a feel for how the marketing material communicates the company’s brand voice. Read up on where the company has been and where they want to go, and reference that heavily in your cover letter. Promise that one writer-friend you have coffee or hugs in exchange for their proofreading skills. You got this.

Throw your shoulders back.

In the words of Demi Lovato, “what’s wrong with, what’s wrong with, what’s wrong with being confident?”

Absolutely nothing, that’s what.

Confidence is attractive. And in a job interview, it makes you stand out. Talking up your skills and experience doesn’t make you a narcissist, it makes you employable.

(You can learn more about the dream-job-esque culture we’ve created over at 25N Coworking.)

How I Landed My Dream Job at 23